Chapter One, Page Three

NOTE: This is not actually page three. This is more
like page five. We seem to have lost page three and four where Yurika toys with a device from one of the
labs which turns her car in to a giant cat-car, reminiscent of the
Neko no Basu in Tonari no Totoro. We also seem to
have lost page three where Steve and Kessel get in to the game of tag
and are stuck with it. We take up now with Steve and Kessel
reminscing as well as spotting Sanders
and the haples Jiro from page two.

Steve and Kessel Spot Sanders

"Nah," Steve replied as he eased himself back in through the
window, the sixty-mile-per-hour wind whipping his words away and
his hair into a tangle. "Years of practice with my dad."

"Sometimes I wish I had your parents."

"Sometimes I wish I didn't. But hey, it's September, time to
leave that junk behind for a while. I'm glad to be back with the
gang. How's the baseball team looking this year anyways?"

"Well, slightly dismal in the pitching department. Romero
graduated, remember, and there's no one on the varsity squad now
who could even come close. McComb's going to be on the warpath
come practice time." Kessel paused to consider for a moment.
"Speaking of McComb, isn't this the year you take calculus and
physics?"

"Yeah, much as I've been dreading it. I would've been able to
take Russian IV and Chinese Lit if there wasn't that damn
requirement."

"Oh, come on, Steve, you can practically teach Russian, and I
saw all those Chinese books you just bought. Take it like a
man."

Steve laughed, draping one arm out the window and dangling the
puffball in the wind. He paused to look at the landscape. "Hm,
at this rate we'll be in Albany by -"

"Hey!" interrupted Kessel. "Look over on the shoulder!"

There on the median strip, just visible in the distance ahead,
sat a familiar green vehicle. Steve blinked twice. It didn't
disappear. He blinked again. It did, but came back almost as
rapidly. Yep, that was him all right.

"Sanders..." both boys muttered under their breath, Steve with
slight bemusement, Kessel with anticipatory glee.

"I've been wanting to nail him at this game for years. Get that
arm ready, Steve."